Swift opens up KYC Registry to all finance institutions

DUBAI, July 17, 2017

Swift today announced that it has opened membership in its KYC Registry to all supervised financial institutions globally.

Since the launch of The KYC Registry in December 2014, membership has been limited to Swift-connected supervised institutions. Starting in September 2017, all supervised financial institutions which are licensed by authorities such as central banks and regulatory authorities will be able to join the registry, regardless of whether they are connected to Swift, said a statement.

Luc Meurant, head of financial crime compliance services, Swift, said: “Extending KYC Registry membership to all eligible supervised financial institutions means that current Registry members will profit from even broader coverage of their correspondent banking and funds distribution networks, allowing them to further consolidate and streamline their customer due diligence activities.

“In parallel, smaller institutions will benefit from industry-agreed standards and best practices in know your customer compliance. As well as delivering efficiency gains and cost savings, the move will foster financial inclusion and further strengthen the Registry’s position as the KYC utility of choice for the global financial industry."

The KYC Registry is a secure, global utility which nearly 4,000 correspondent banks and funds players from the Middle East region and around the world use to contribute, share and consume a comprehensive set of KYC data and documents. The registry helps financial institutions streamline the exchange of know your customer information to support KYC compliance. Member institutions share their data in response to access requests from their counterparties who ‘consume’ the data as part of their KYC processes. Each institution retains ownership of its registry data, and full control over which counterparties can access it.

Using the Registry enables correspondent banks and funds players to align themselves with global best practices, demonstrate transparency, reduce due diligence costs for their counterparties, and protect their correspondent relationships, Swift said. – TradeArabia News Service